1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to a water sprinkling apparatus for commercial ice manufacturing machines having a flow-down evaporator that continuously supplies water throughout the ice making process.
2. Description of Related Art
Typically, in a water flow-down type ice making machine, a pair of ice making plates are vertically disposed in a back-to-back relation to each other with a refrigerating pipe positioned between the pair of ice making plates. The refrigerating pipe essentially comprises the evaporator in which a coolant is evaporated and the pipe is placed in intimate contact with the ice making plates to cool icing water that is scattered from a water sprinkling apparatus positioned above the ice making plates. The scattered water flows downward along the exposed surfaces of the ice making plates during the ice making operation.
After the ice making operation is performed, a high-temperature gas that is not condensed is forced through the refrigerating pipe to heat the ice making plates in order to melt the ice formed and adhering to the surfaces of the ice making plates. Thus, the formed ice is separated from the ice making, plates and is discharged from the ice making machine. The ice water sprinkling apparatus supplies a predetermined level of water flow to facilitate discharge of the ice from the ice making plates.
Referring to FIG. 1, an ice water sprinkler 11 feature of a known water sprinkling apparatus 10 is illustrated. The ice water sprinkler 11 includes a pair of elongated water scattering cylinders 12, each having a substantially rectangular cross section with a broad width. The water scattering cylinders 12 are joined together by a coupling portion 14. A water supply joint 15 projects from the coupling portion 14. Also, stoppers 13 are integrally formed with the icing water scattering cylinders 12 at respective outer shoulder portions thereof.
Turning to FIG. 2, a bottom view of the ice water sprinkler 11 is illustrated. A plurality of water scattering holes 16 are formed in a bottom wall of each of the ice water scattering cylinders 12 and are in communication with an ice water passage (not shown) defined within the scattering cylinders 12. A longitudinal recess 17 is integrally formed within the bottom surface of each of the ice water scattering cylinders 12. Each recess 17 is designed to snugly fit or receive a protrusion 18a of a deicing water sprinkler 18 that is used in conjunction with the ice water sprinkler 11 in a well-known manner.
FIG. 3 illustrates a portion of the ice making machine in which the water sprinkling apparatus 10 is assembled to include the ice water sprinkler 11 and the deicing water sprinkler 18. A pair of ice making plates 21 and 22 are positioned in a back-to-back opposite relation with an evaporator or refrigeration pipe 23 through which a coolant flows is disposed between the ice making plates 21 and 22. A lower half of the deicing water sprinkler 18 extends between the ice making plates 21 and 22.
A pair of water guide plates 19 and 20 are mounted at upper portions of the ice making plates 21 and 22, respectively, substantially in a V-like design to deflect the water scattered from the water scattering holes 16 of the ice water sprinkler 11 toward the surfaces of the ice making plates 21 and 22 so that the ice making process can be carried out.
This known water sprinkling apparatus can be assembled from a plurality of individual parts, thereby requiring a substantial amount of time for machining or molded from a die. Unfortunately, the assembly of parts requires a test for leakage. As such, most conventional water sprinkling apparatuses are both time consuming to manufacture, as well as difficult to clean. Furthermore, the water scattering holes 16 within the ice water sprinkler 11 may clog over time, thereby rendering the ice making machine inefficient.
It is the object of this invention to overcome the above-described drawbacks of the conventional ice water sprinkler.
Another object of this invention is to provide an ice water sprinkler wherein water flows through the center portion of a channel after the water level reaches a point of overflowing through an opening in a top surface of the channel body, the water flows over the side of the channel body onto the water guide plates below.
The ice water sprinkler of this invention comprises two distinct interfitting pieces that are easy to form, clean and maintain. As the channel body contains no apertures to be clogged, there is very little likelihood for down time due to a clogged water supply pipe. Furthermore, the amount of time necessary to manufacture the ice water sprinklers is decreased as verification of holes being formed in the channel body are not necessary due to the structure of this invention.